Course Description Finance 101 Syllabus, Spring 2007 Monetary Economics and the Global Economy Professor Ted Temzelides Finance 101 is an intermediate-level course in macroeconomics and the global economic environment. The aim of the course is to provide students with a set of tools to analyze macroeconomic issues. Particular attention is given to the interactions between the macroeconomy and financial markets, and topics related to the global economy. The course is comprised of three major parts: The first part develops the foundations. The key question here is: how do the major markets (labor, capital, and goods markets) operate? These markets are first studied in isolation. The second part of the course puts them together and studies their interactions. The key issues here are: a) how do macroeconomic aggregates behave in general equilibrium? and b) how can macroeconomic policy affect these outcomes? The third part of the course is devoted to international macroeconomics and macroeconomic policy. The key questions here will be: a) how do macroeconomic aggregates, especially the exchange rate and the current account behave in an open economy? and b) how is the economy affected by fiscal and monetary policy? A provisional schedule of topics is attached at the end of this syllabus. There may be some changes during the semester. WebCafe All materials for the class will be available online on Webcafe, including lecture notes, problem sets, and materials that will be used for discussion in class. https://webcafe.wharton.upenn.edu/eroom/fnce/101-sp07-1 There is also a bulkpack that can be purchased from reprographics. It will be used in two applications that will be discussed later in the course, as time allows. Reading Materials The textbook for this course is Macroeconomics (fifth or sixth edition), by Andrew B. Abel and Ben S. Bernanke, Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. It is available in the bookstore. The Study Guide (by Dean Croushore) that accompanies this textbook is a useful aid to students who might benefit from some additional explanation and practice with the material. However, it is by no means required. Problem Sets The website will contain suggested problems and answers arranged by textbook chapter. These are optional and will NOT be collected and graded. It is highly advisable, however, that you work out the answers and go through the formal exercise of writing down your own answers. Solutions will be posted on Webcafe.
Global Analysis Project The Global Analysis Project is a group assignment promoting teamwork and communications. You will be asked to apply some of the tools you will learn in this class in order to understand a current policy issue related to a country of your choice. This will involve forming groups of 5-6 students and making a power-point presentation during the last week of classes. Detailed information regarding this assignment will be provided at a later stage. Exams and Grades There will be two mid-term exams and a final. The midterm exams are scheduled for Tuesday 2/6 in the evening and Tuesday 3/20 in the evening. The final exam will be cumulative. It will be given during the final examination period as scheduled by the registrar. Each midterm exam will count as one grade, and the final will count as two grades. The lowest grade among these four grades will be dropped. The policy of dropping the lowest exam grade provides insurance against having a bad day, or against being unable to attend one of the midterm exams. Because this insurance is being provided to you, there will be NO MAKE-UP EXAMS FOR THE MIDTERM EXAMS FOR ANY REASON. If you miss a midterm exam for any reason whatsoever, then you can simply use your insurance policy to drop that exam; your course grade will be based on the other midterm exam and the final exam. The course grade will be based on the total score from the non-dropped exams (90%) and the Global Analysis Project (10%). All exams will be closed book. However, every student is allowed to bring a single (twosided) 8.5 x 11 sheet of notes to the first midterm, two such sheets to the second midterm and three to the final. Regarding requests for midterms must be submitted within a week from the date these exams are returned. There will be no exception to this policy. For the final, such requests must be submitted within a week from the start of the following term. Please be advised that regarding requests can actually lower your grade, since I will be re-grading the entire exam. If you alter the answer to any exam question and then request a regrade, you will be referred to the appropriate authorities for disciplinary action as violators of the code of academic integrity. All regrading requests must be accompanied by a Regrade Request and a Statement of Honesty in Regrade Request form. Office Hours There are four TAs working with me during this course. Our office hours are as follows: M 5-6pm Sandeep Mirani Tu 5-6pm Daniel Bleicher W 4.30-5.30pm Anton Bernstein Th 4.30-5.30pm Arif Shiliwala F 9-11am Ted Temzelides 2
The TAs office hours will be held at Desk C which is located in SH/DH # 2305 of the Finance suite. You may schedule appointments to talk with me at other times. My office is SH/DH # 2426. My phone number is 215-898-3477, and my email address (the best way to reach me) is ttemzeli@wharton.upenn.edu 3
Provisional Schedule of Classes 1 Tues., Jan. 9 Introduction and Overview (Ch. 1) 2 Thurs., Jan. 11 National Income Accounting (Ch. 2) 3 Tues., Jan. 16 Production and Employment (Ch. 3, Secs. 1, 2, 4) 4 Thurs., Jan. 18 Labor Supply and Unemployment (Ch. 3, Secs. 3, 5, 6) 5 Tues, Jan. 23 Consumption and Saving: Basic Analytics (Ch. 4, pp. 111-119; App. 4.A pp. 156-164) 6 Thurs., Jan. 25 Consumption and Saving: Using the Basic Analytics (Ch. 4, pp.119-127;app. 4.A, pp.164-170) 7 Tues., Jan 30 Investment and Goods Market Equilibrium (Ch. 4, Secs. 2 and 3) 8 Thurs., Feb. 1 In-Class Review Session for Midterm Exam I 9 Tues., Feb. 6 A Framework for the Open Economy (Ch. 5, Secs. 1-2) -- Tues., Feb. 6 MIDTERM EXAMINATION I: EVENING 10 Thurs., Feb. 8 The Current Account 11 Tues, Feb. 13 Asset Markets, Money, and Prices (Ch. 7) 12 Thurs., Feb. 15 Asset Returns and Prices 13 Tues., Feb. 20 Business Cycles (Ch. 8) 14 Thurs., Feb. 22 The IS-LM Model (Ch. 9, Secs. 1-5) 15 Tues., Feb.27 Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply (Ch. 9, Sec. 6; Ch. 10, Sec. 3) 16 Thurs., Mar. 1 The Classical Model (Ch. 10, Secs. 1-2) -- Tues., Mar. 6 SPRING BREAK -- Thurs.., Mar. 8 SPRING BREAK 17 Tues., Mar. 13 The Keynesian Model (Ch. 11) 18 Thurs., Mar. 15 In-Class Review Session for Midterm Exam II 19 Tues, March 20 The Phillips Curve: Unemployment and Inflation (Ch. 12) -- Tues., Mar. 20 MIDTERM EXAMINATION II: EVENING 20 Thurs., Mar. 22 Exchange Rates (Ch. 13, Secs. 1-2) 21 Tues., Mar. 27 Monetary & Fiscal Policy in the Open Economy (Ch. 13, Secs. 3-5) 22 Thurs., Mar. 29 Monetary Policy and Institutions (Ch. 14) 23 Tues., Apr. 3 Government Spending and Its Financing (Ch. 15) 24 Thurs., Apr. 5 Policy Application 25 Tues., Apr. 10 Policy Application
26 Thurs., Apr. 12 Global Analysis Projects 27 Tues., Apr. 17 Global Analysis Projects 28 Thurs., Apr. 19 In-Class Review Session for Final Exam FINAL EXAMINATION 5